1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a capsule endoscope image display device for executing a display process of information about a plurality of pieces of images obtained by being captured over an elapse of time while a capsule endoscope autonomously or heteronomously moves within a body to be examined, and of information associated with the image information.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a so-called capsule endoscope, which is a swallow-type endoscope, has made its debut in the endoscope field. US Patent Publication No. 2002/0177779A1 discloses the technique for providing a capsule endoscope with an image capturing function and a wireless communication function, for sequentially capturing images of organs such as the stomach, the small intestine, etc., during an observation period from when the capsule endoscope is swallowed via the mouth of a patient for an observation or an examination until when it is naturally excreted from the body, and for sequentially and wirelessly transmitting image information (electronic data that represents images) obtained by capturing the images.
Additionally, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2005-218584 (Abstract, FIGS. 1, 2, and 3) discloses the technique by which image information wirelessly transmitted as described above is received by a receiver provided outside the body of a patient and stored in a predetermined memory, and a doctor can thereafter use the image information for a diagnosis, etc. by reading the image information and displaying the image information on a display screen, depending on need.
However, for such a capsule endoscope, the period from when it is swallowed via the mouth of a patient until when it is naturally excreted is an observation period or an examination period that is unlike that in a normal endoscope.
Case data shot with the capsule endoscope during this period is composed of approximately 60,000 images as materials shot for the maximum of approximately eight hours, and the number of pieces of image information (case data) is extremely large.
In addition, information about images shot with the capsule endoscope in the past include image information of many patients, and also information about images shot on different examination dates even for the same patient, and are stored in a recording device.
It is not easy for a doctor to grasp such an extremely large number of pieces of image information in a short time at the time of a diagnosis, etc., and to search for image information of a desired portion to be focused on, or more specifically, only image information of an organ desired to be diagnosed, or only image information obtained by shooting a lesional portion, etc.
Additionally, it is not easy to search for only an image itself, or only data included in such image information and associated with a desired case such as a comment, a report, etc. on results of a diagnosis made by a previously responsible doctor.
Patent Document 1: US Patent Publication No. 2002/0177779A1
Patent Document 2: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2005-218584